Apartment by Hyba Ouazzani | An Enthusiastic Review

In November of 2020, I was given the amazing opportunity to read an early copy of  my dear friend Hyba's thriller novella Apartment. I've been meaning to share my thoughts on it for ages now, but happily this post coincides with her release of Apartment's literary companion, which offers glorious behind-the-scenes information, exploratory tidbits, and authorial commentary of this fantastic, chilling tale—all for free! 

​Now I'm not a fan of horror, generally, and thus also tend to avoid thrillers. (This is just because I'm easily affected by what I read and am a big wimp). But I love Hyba's writing, and the sneak peeks I saw of this novella on her tumblr got me hooked pretty fast. Especially as Apartment is not gratuitous with the horror; it's more of a psychological, twisting (and twisted!) mystery.

I still vividly remember sitting outside my local Starbucks as dusk fell around me, ripping through Apartment with one hand and scribbling all my thoughts and reactions into my notebook with the other.

It was such an exhilarating read, and the tension ramps up so spectacularly, so steadily, until it all just explodes into action! Even though none of the characters are clean-cut "good" people (and some of them are downright awful), as a reader I found myself quickly invested in their fates, their backstories, and their interactions with not only each other, but the environment of the titular locale!

said notebook with my scribbled reactions

It's so funny, up until almost three quarters of the way in, Angela was my favourite character, and then suddenly it was Alex who was I rooting for and aching for and hoping desperately would escape the situation she ends up in. James, in contrast, was the character I hated the most (not because he was written badly, but because he's such an awful person written so well I couldn't help but to hate him), and then in a masterful few scenes, my feelings for him got so complicated.

(I hereby declare it Hyba's specialty—constructing believable but complex characters you feel strongly about, even if those feelings fluctuate wildly).

And then I got to the conclusion, which completely stole my breath, It was satisfying and cutting and gutting, all at once! I remember shutting my computer and just staring at the empty parking lot of the Starbucks, chilled and out of breath, as if I had been running. Apartment just gripped me so tightly in its thrall, which is fitting, considering that's essentially what the horrible building does to its inhabitants!

When I look back at my notes while reading, a few phrases jump out at me, and I think these will give you a good idea of what you'll be experiencing without spoilers: 

• stifling environment
• eerie yet vivid imagery
• secret temptations
• insulating and constricting points-of-view
• a deadly mix of paranoia, boredom, and entitlement
• violation and disruption
• savagery
• circumstantial villain-turned-hero
• claustrophobia and surveillance
• magical realism
• delusion, euphoria, despair

All in all, it was an excellent read!  So what are you waiting for? Go get yourself a copy and dive into it!